Epilogue
by Moiderah
Summary: Homura won.
1. Chapter 1

She won.

Homura Akemi finally won.

After one-hundred and three loops, she won. And the proof had landed right in front of her, in the form of an enormous, shifting grief seed. She stared at it in silent disbelief, as the other magical girls congregated around her.

"So...that was Walmart night, huh?" Kyouko snickered. "I thought it was gonna be tougher."

"I got a couple of holes in the chest." Sayaka muttered.

"That's 'cause you _suck."  
_  
Sayaka pouted. "Says the girl who got her lower half liquidized."

"Liquified. And _that was a bullshit attack!" _Kyouko shouted.

Mami nodded once, as she stared at the grief seed in front of them. "...Hard to believe, isn't it, Akemi?"

"...In a way...yes." Homura breathed out. "...It..." She paused as it finally caught up with her. She stared into the sky as the rain fell, with tears forming in the corners of her eyes. "I...we did it." She said. "A-after all of this time..._I-I saved Madoka Kaname's life."  
_

**[Chapter One: I Won]**

Homura woke up in a panic. She panted, her breathing ragged and worn as she stared at the wall in front of her. She grasped at her throat, as though choking herself would get the feeling of dread out.

That was before she realized what day it was. "It...it's May fifteenth." She said to herself, quietly. "May fifteenth, twenty fifteen." She said it over and over, as though to convince herself. "It's May fifteenth." She tried to flip her hair again, only to realize that it had been cut short, now just reaching the back of her neck instead of the small of her back

"And you fell asleep on the couch again."

Homura let out a yelp as she turned to the voice. Standing there was Junko Kaname, dressed for work. "You know, if you're going to stay over so often, I'll just buy a new bed. I'm sure Madoka wouldn't mind it."

"W-what?" Homura shook her head. "Wait...you said this yesterday, didn't you?"

"Yeah. Before you fell on the couch. Again. And I'm going to keep saying it." Junko sighed, before she walked out. "Either way, I have an early meeting. If Madoka wonders where I'm at, just tell her not to worry, alright?"

"Uh...okay, Mrs. Kaname." Homura muttered, before she stared at her bare feet. "...I won." She said to herself. "I _won. _I _won."  
_

[=]

Homura Akemi was now eighteen years old, dressed in a nice girl's school outfit. She stared aimlessly in front of her as she sat, before suddenly, right behind her, a pair of arms wrapped themselves around her waist.

"Homura!" Madoka shouted. Homura turned around to see the other girl right behind her, with her hair tied up in a ponytail. She giggled lightly. "Good morning!"

Homura paused, before she gave her a smile back. "Good morning, Madoka."

"...Are you okay?" Madoka asked. "Is your Soul Gem getting dirty again?"

"No, I'm alright." Homura said. "I'm really okay."

"You don't look the part." Madoka said, softly.

"I really am okay." Homura muttered. "You don't need to worry."

"You've been saying that since forever." Madoka said. "...I think I have a right to know if my girlfriend is hurting."

Homura paused. "...I'm still in mild disbelief." Homura said.

"It's been years, Homura." Madoka said. "...You fought a hurricane and _won."  
_  
"I know but..." Homura paused. "Nevermind."

"Nevermind?"

"Nevermind, I'm being stupid."

"What's stupid?"

"It's _nothing, _Madoka!" Homura shouted, before she slapped her hands onto her mouth.

Madoka just paused, before she frowned. "...It hurts to see you like this." Madoka said, quietly. "...I know it's hard to talk...but it does hurt." She looked at her. "...Let's get ready for school." She said. "Okay, Homura?"

"I..." Homura bit her lip. "...Okay." 

[=]

Kyouko Sakura was a student at Mitakihara High, right smack-dab in the middle of the city. She wasn't really that good a student, though it wasn't for a lack of brains...rather, she was just fucking _lazy, _in her own words. She was just that fucking _lazy.  
_  
So _incredibly _lazy, that she had struggled with one assignment, simply because it required two more problems than she had expected to finish. Her reaction, when Sayaka had told her to finish it, could be summarized by her first two sentences.

"Fuck it! I'm done!"

So here she was, walking to school, talking to said Sayaka.

"No. I don't wanna do it. I have a date tonight."

"What, another floozy girl that you're gonna dump next week?" Sayaka said, flatly.

"No!" Kyouko shrieked. "...Okay, maybe."

"You're hopeless." Sayaka muttered.

"Hey, at least I'm _trying!"  
_  
"Not hard enough, apparently!" Sayaka rolled her eyes. "You're gonna be an old lonely lady one day."

"Crazy cat lady?" Kyouko glared.

"Crazy cat lady. Hardcore." 

[=]

Just as she said that, they looked to see Madoka and Homura walking to school, with Homura looking just as aloof as she always did. Kyouko sneered a little. "Yo, Mado. Homu."

"Hi!" Madoka said as cheerfully as she could. It obviously wasn't too convincing to Sayaka.

"You alright?" Sayaka asked.

"I'm..." Madoka paused to glance at Homura. "We're fine."

"You don't sound it." Sayaka said.

Kyouko turned to look at Homura. "And you look worse than usual. Somehow." Kyouko raised an eyebrow. "Somethin' goin' on?"

"It's nothing." Homura said simply. "...I merely had a bad night's sleep."

"Yeah. Okay. Whatever." Kyouko shrugged. _'...You know, you can talk to the rest of us, yaknow?'_

'It's not like we're strangers.' Sayaka said.

_'I know. But this doesn't concern you.'_

'Of course it does.' Sayaka glared. _'You're our _friend.'

_'And the girlfriend of her best friend. Kinda a big deal.'_

'I said it doesn't concern you.' Homura looked away, before she and Madoka just continued to school.

Sayaka watched them leave, while Kyouko just shrugged. "Well, her fuckin' loss."

"You still cry about your family, right?" Sayaka asked.

"...No." Kyouko shifted her eyes around. "Uh...no."

"My mom still cries about dad. Figured that you'd still cry about your family." Sayaka looked at her. "...And Homura's probably still crying about the timelines."

Kyouko opened her mouth, before she just shut it. "...I still have a hard time believing that. Think she told Madoka?"

"Doubtful." Sayaka said. "...I really doubt it." 

[=]

Mami Tomoe was a college student, currently studying for her physics degree. As it turned out, being a magical girl really made it _exceptionally _easy to calculate this stuff in her head, and she was breezing through most of her work.

That said, she hadn't quite gotten the hang of balancing her life as a magical girl with her homework, but she was getting there. Just needed to take baby steps.

Of course, in the midst of a study session, she got a phone call. She paused to pick it up. "Hello?"

There wasn't an answer. With that, Mami sighed, and got back to work. 

[=]

On the other end of the phone, Homura sat in a nearby bathroom. She sat on the closed toilet seat, staring blankly at the ceiling. She wanted to talk to somebody. _Anybody.  
_  
But for some reason, when she finally did, she couldn't.

"...Pathetic." She muttered. She looked at the walls to see various scratches, some of which said "Faggot" and "Gay" and "Kill the jews". She rolled her eyes, before she stood up.

"Madoka's waiting." She said to herself. "...I won. I still won." 

[=]

When Kyouko got to school, her locker had the words _**"DYKE SLUT" **_sketched on the side with a permanent marker. Without flinching, she opened it, and quickly took a book out. She sighed, as she walked through the hallways, with some people staring at her as she calmly found her way towards a seat.

Sayaka sat next to her as the class started around them. 'So...you gonna do something about that?'

'About what?' Kyouko turned.

'I saw your locker. That's fucking terrible.'

'It's nothing new.'

'Doesn't make it right.' Sayaka said.

'Okay, look.' Kyouko turned. 'I get it. I get you're my friend and that you care. Doesn't mean I _give a shit _about your advice when I'm gettin' a few scribbles from your average retard _jock_.'

'It's not "just a few".' Sayaka said. '...Did you look at your desk?'

Kyouko paused to look. Right in front of her, there were a few more scribbles, one of which had a stick figure of her with a crudely drawn fish taco, another that said _**"KILL YOURSELF" **_and another that said _**"YOUR DAD WAS A-" **_Kyouko slammed her fist into the desk as soon as she saw it. The impact shattered the desk, and immediately, the entire room turned to look at her.

"Kyouko Sakura." The teacher said. "...Did you just...did you just destroy one of our desks?"

Kyouko stared at him, then at the desk. "...Yes." She said. "...I did." She clenched her teeth. "I fuckin' did. _So fucking what." _She was starting to tear up. She was starting to tear up _in the middle of class. _She shook her head, before she quickly ran out of the room.

Sayaka looked at the desk, then at the teacher. "Excuse me. Gotta run." She stood up quickly, before she dashed after Kyouko. 

[=]

After Homura got to her actual home, she sat at her couch. The clock above ticked again, as she sat to watch television. She stared at it blankly...it was just some stupid game show with pies.

She stared at the screen as pie after pie hit the contestant as he tried to live a normal life...then she heard a light knock on the door. 

[=]

"Mom?"

Junko turned to look at her daughter. "What is it, Madoka?"

"Do...do you think Homura hates me?"

"What?" Junko turned. "Why would you think that?"

"...I...I dunno."

"You haven't ever been very good at convincing me, Madoka." Junko sighed. "...Why are you asking this?"

"She...she's keeping something from me."

Junko opened her mouth. "...Well, you only need to worry about it if-"

"She started crying last time we fell asleep together." Madoka said. "She...she started calling out for my name, even though I was hugging her on the couch."

Junko paused. "...Is she afraid of losing you or something?"

"I...I don't know." Madoka said. "...I want to be her Madoka Akemi but..." She shook her head. "I can't do that if she doesn't help me." 

[=]

Kyouko wasn't in school for the rest of the day. It was only when Madoka was talking with her mother, and Homura was at her own home, that Sayaka finally found her where they always hung out after a witch hunt. Under the bridge between Kasamino and Mitakihara.

Sure enough, Kyouko was there, throwing rocks onto the water. One of them skipped across them, smashing into the nearby concrete with a loud _crack.  
_  
Sayaka smiled as soon as she saw the other girl, before she ran over. "Hey, Kyouko!"

"Fuck off, Sayaka." Kyouko didn't even turn as she threw another rock. "I'm busy."

"Busy doing what, exactly?" Sayaka walked over. "Stewing in your own angst?"

Kyouko paused as she stared ahead at the rock skipping across the water. "...Actually, yeah. That basically sums it up."

"Come on." Sayaka stood by, before she dangled her legs over the edge of the platform. "We're both adults-ish."

"...Adults-ish?" Kyouko raised an eyebrow.

"Well, ish." Sayaka shrugged. "...Why'd you run off?"

"...Isn't it obvious?" Kyouko threw another rock.

"Because you don't want to deal with their shit?"

Kyouko snickered. "Okay, that's one reason."

"Because you hate school anyway?"

"Let me just sum it up for you." Kyouko stopped. "...It's because they pissed me off. Horribly."

"...Hm?" Sayaka turned.

"We're magical girls, aren't we?" Kyouko sighed. "...If I were to punch somebody...I'd break their neck."

"...Right." Sayaka mused. "...I actually almost forgot about that. Just...it feels like normal." Just as she said that, she picked up a rock, before she casually crushed it in her hand. "But...you didn't worry about this before."

[=]

Homura pulled the door open to see someone right behind it, with long blonde hair in two familiar spirals. "Mami?"

"You called me earlier. And since my finals are all but complete, I figured it would be nice to see if I could meet you." Mami smiles with a bow. "...I was doing some last-minute cramming."

"Oh." Homura muttered. "Well...I...I don't need your help-"

"Bullshit."

Homura blinked at that. "Mami, I am capable of hunting-"

"This wasn't about hunting." Mami says. "My partner is going into _psychology. _You remember Erika, right?"

Homura paused, before she just bit her lip. "That one...double date you took Madoka and myself on?"

"Correct." Mami says. "She noticed how you seemed distant. You even seemed to flinch at seemingly innocuous things. Like whenever the pizza oven got so hot that the fire turned blue for a second."

Homura winced at that. "It...surprised me."

"Homura, if you really don't want to be confronted about this, then that's simply too bad." Mami's expression softened. "...And I know that Madoka isn't happy."

"M-Madoka?" Homura turned. She shook her head. "N-No, it's okay. She doesn't need to know."

"She does." Mami says. "You can't just shut her out of whatever you're feeling, Homura!" Mami said, before Homura simply slammed the door in her face.

Mami paused, her hand inches away from the now-closed door. She took a deep breath. "...Homura." 

[=]

"I would have gladly punched the fuckers in the face. Hid their bodies. Fed them to familiars, get some free seeds."

"Yeesh." Sayaka cringed at that. "Well...you're less of a terrifying psychopath, right?"

"Yup." Kyouko snickered. "...Kinda hard to be more of one, though." She kept looking. "...I became a monster. Like my dad said."

Sayaka frowned. "Hey, don't say that."

"It's true, though." Kyouko took another deep breath. "...I'm a fuckup and I got my family killed." She laughed bitterly. "...I deserved it."

"No. No you _didn't." _Sayaka said. "You _hardly _deserved that! _Nobody _deserved that!"

Kyouko paused. "...Then why do I feel like I do?"

"Because..." Sayaka froze on her words. "B-because..." She looked at the ground. "...I don't know. I don't know why you feel like it. But I _know _you don't deserve it."

Kyouko kept looking out. "...Well, you tried." Kyouko smiled thinly. "...Thanks for that, at least."

"...You really need to find a girl that you can talk about this with."

"Well, I have you."

"A girl that you're _dating."  
_  
"Oh. Well, I'm shit outta luck. I'm a fucking _awful _girlfriend."

"Iunno." Sayaka snickered. "I think you'd be an awesome one. You just haven't found a nice fit yet."

"A nice, magical-girl shaped fit?"

"Maaaaaybe." Sayaka shrugged. "Well...wanna go back to the apartment or wouldya like to keep sitting here?"

"Isn't it obvious?" Kyouko muttered. "Sit here."

"Heh. Fine." Sayaka smiled. "...We can just sit here." 

[=]

A/N: Wouldn't you know it, _The National _is perfect fuel for writing depressing megucafics.


	2. Chapter 2

Mami Tomoe rested her head in the lap of a salmon-haired girl. She took a deep breath to sigh. "It's hard, you know?"

"I know." The girl above her muttered. "I know."

"It...okay." Mami sighed. "...I want Homura to be better but she just shoved me away again."

"Again? I thought last night as the first time you tried." The girl above her muttered.

"Hardly." Mami said. "...It was the first time I was so persistent about it."

"She needs therapy."

"I doubt she'd go." Mami says. "...Not in this country."

"Well, then I can talk." Erika said. "...I can try to talk to her." She turned. "...She's another magical girl, isn't she?"

"I...yes."Mami muttered, before she suddenly felt someone pecking her on the lips. "E-Eh?!"

"You looked kissable right there!" The other girl said. "But...I knew a girl before. She was a magical girl once."

"...I didn't know that." Mami said, quietly.

"I did." Erika smiled. "I did." She gingerly cradled Mami's head, before she touched a certain spot close to Mami's right temple.

Immediately, Mami winced, and Erika gasped. "Oh no, I'm so sorry!"

"No, it's okay." Mami said back. "It was an accident."

**[CHAPTER 2: I'm So Ungrateful]**

Madoka stared at a plush on her shelf. It seemed to stare back, as though it were judging her...staring at her. She took a deep breath as it kept looking, before she flopped onto the bed helplessly.

"Homura." She muttered, before she curled herself around a pillow. "...I wanna fix it." She said it quietly.

Behind her, a small, white creature flicked his tail. _'Still so insistent on leaving me be?'_

"Yes. Go away." Madoka said. "...Homura doesn't like you."

_'You don't have to rely on her word. After all, she wouldn't want to have you under her thumb, now would she?'_

Madoka clenched her teeth. "_Leave, _Incubator."

_'I see no reason to...but alright.' _He turned. _'...But I'm always here. I've been here for the past few years.'_

"I know." Madoka said. "I _know."_

And with that, he left.

[=]

Homura stared at the ceiling, before she looked at a screen nearby. She slid her finger across it, before she started to watch something online. She laughed as the person on the screen argued about how terrible a game developer was, with both of them arguing about the _degree _of terribleness rather than whether or not it was actually terrible.

Eventually, she realized just how tired she was. She turned to the ceiling, before she quietly pulled her covers over her body to sleep.

[=]

Homura stood outside of an enormous hourglass, and right in front of her, she saw _her. _It was a young girl, one with pink hair tied up into a ponytail. She waved at the girl, while the girl inside ran to meet her.

But she hit the glass. She bounced off of it, flinching in mild pain as Homura ran towards it. She hit the glass over and over with her hands, as Homura pulled out a gun.

The bullets bounced off harmlessly, as, to their horror, sand started to fill the glass. Homura shouted as Madoka was slowly consumed by the glass. And as it fell, Madoka screamed in fear and terror. Before the sand covered her head, she stopped screaming, and mouthed three words.

And then she was smothered. Homura stood staring at in silent horror, before the glass started to turn. At the bottom of the other end was another Madoka, another girl who screamed. The sand started to cover her again, and when it covered her head, she said the same three words.

And then the hourglass turned again.

[=]

When Kyouko walked to school again, she got stares from everyone in the hallway. She could feel their eyes on her back, on her face, on her body as she moved to her locker, where there was a new message next to the one calling her a slut.

"...She-Hulk." Kyouko muttered. "She-fuckin'-Hulk."

"Kyouko-" Sayaka started saying something, before Kyouko just raised a hand.

"...I'm not in the fucking mood." She said.

"Kyouko, you really don't have to worry about-"

"No. Fuck this." Kyouko shook her head. "I..._fuck."_

"Kyouko, let's just get to class, okay?"

"...Okay." Kyouko muttered. "Okay. I'll try."

[=]

Homura stared at her ceiling. She grasped at it fruitlessly, as though to touch something that wasn't there. She took a deep breath, as she silently pondered to herself.

"I could have gone..." She muttered. "...maybe I should have gone to school today..."

And it was then that her door rang. She paused, before she slowly got dressed and went to the door. Each step was sluggish and slow, as though her energy had been drained by her nightmare the previous night.

She slowly pulled the door open, and as soon as she did, her eyes widened in surprise. "...I-I...w-wait..."

In front of her were two people. One was a full-grown man, with well-groomed hair and a black suit on. His eyes were a lavender, and his face was wrinkled and worn. His wife wasn't much younger, but with a much rounder face. She was slightly shorter than he was, but she, too, wore a black suit.

"Hello, Homura." The man said. "...We're home."

Homura just stared. Her mouth opened and closed, as she sifted through her mind. She tried to find something to say to them. She tried to think. She tried.

"F-father?" She muttered. "M-Mother?"

"We're sorry for not calling." Her mother said. "But...we're home now."

"It...it's been years." Homura muttered. "It's been _years."_

"Yes." The man gulped. "It...it has."

"You...where did..." She shook her head. "I..."

"It was an important project." Her father said. "We just needed-"

_"Don't _say another word." Homura said. "Do _not _say anything else."

They flinched at that. "Homura..."

"Don't say my first name." Homura said, icily. "Only _a few _people can call me anything other than _Akemi, _and you _aren't one of them."_

"Homura-"

"Stop it, _stop it, __**Stop it." **_Homura shook her head. "Please leave. _Now."_

Her parents stared at her. "Homu-" She shut the door again, leaving them both standing outside, staring at the door in silent horror.

"We..." The father looked at the ground. "...She's changed."

"...Of course she has." The mother muttered. "...Of course she has..."

[=]

Homura stared at the shut door. She clenched her teeth before she locked it several times over, with each lock making a nice clicking noise as she did. She slammed her back against the door, before she slowly slid down it. She was panting as she did so, before she buried her face in her hands.

"It...I didn't even _recognize them." _She muttered to herself. "I..._I didn't even know them."_

[=]

The parents stared at the door again, before they both slowly turned away. The father wiped his eyes, while the mother looked ahead, trying to keep her face as straight as she possibly could.

"It's what we deserved." She said, quietly. "...It's what we deserved."

"We were busy." The man inhaled. "We were busy and we couldn't talk."

"Four years." She said, quietly.

"...Maybe she will forgive us later?"

"If she does...then I'll be surprised." The mother said.

[=]

"Oi! 'Nother hit!" Kyouko grinned, before she _slashed _apart the witch's face.

"And another _blow!" _Sayaka laughed, before she removed the head with a pair of blades. The entire body shuddered and shrieked, and they stood in the middle. A grief seed fell to the ground and bounced once, before Kyouko kicked it up. "Okay, so...that's mine this time."

"Hey, you got one last time!"

"No, that was _you." _Kyouko said. "If it was me, then I wouldn't be fuckin' _starving! _It looks like my sool jim's a black mamba!"

"...That's a kind of snake, Kyouko."

_"DON'T JUDGE ME."_

Just as she said that, they both turned to see a familiar flash of yellow. "Oh, Mami."

"Yo." Kyouko grinned.

"Hello, Sayaka." She said. "Kyouko..." She turned to see the seed on the ground. "You already took care of it?"

"Naturally." Kyouko said as she swiped it up. "Okay, fine. We rock-paper-scissors for this shit."

"Yeah?" Sayaka grinned.

"Fuck yeah." Kyouko raised her hands. "Rock...paper..._scissors!" _They threw their hands at one another, just in time for both of them to throw rock. "Dammit."

"Rock..." Sayaka raised a hand. "Paper..." They clenched their teeth. _"Scissors!" _They threw, before Kyouko just groaned.

"Oh, come _on!"_

"Rock beats scissors!" Sayaka laughed, while Mami just sighed.

"I would hope your stockpiles are good enough so that you can actually afford to play stupid games like this?"

"Yeah, they are." Sayaka said. "I got fifteen in mine."

"Thirty-three!"

"What, were you mining Kasamino again?" Sayaka raised an eyebrow.

"...maybe." Kyouko looked around suspiciously. _"Maaaaaaaaaaaaybe."_

"You're a terrible person." Sayaka sighed.

"Well, while I'm here..." Mami took a breath. "I think I know what's happening with Homura."

"Hm?" Kyouko turned.

"Erika said-"

"Oh, _christ." _Kyouko sighed. "Erika? You mean that bitch of a girlfriend you have?"

"Bitch of a-" Mami was taken aback, before she shook her head. "She said that she may be suffering PTSD-"

"You mean the same bullshit thing she 'ccused me of havin'?" Kyouko raised an eyebrow.

"She didn't accuse _you _have having that specifically, just that you were traumatized by-"

"Traumatized? _Traumatized?!" _Kyouko laughed bitterly. "I'm fucking _fine! _Besides, the fuck're you talking about? Like, what, he hasn't been sleeping well 'n shit? I don't think I remember ever seeing her without bags under her eyes."

Mami paused. "...Point. But that still doesn't mean that her condition is acceptable."

"Have you seen her talking to Madoka lately?" Sayaka asked. "She's been distant, even towards _Madoka."_

"Oh. Their fairytale romance isn't quite as fairytale as they thought." Kyouko muttered.

Both Mami and Sayaka glared at her. _"Kyouko."_

"Okay, I'm a little jealous. But still." Kyouko clenched her teeth. "What's to say that she can't get through this on her own!"

Mami clenched her teeth. "Because her soul gem's getting darker than ever."

[=]

"Homura?" Madoka asked as the door opened in front of her.

[=]

"Her stockpile is large, but there's a chance that it won't last. She's burning through a grief seed every two days." Mami says. "She can hunt, yes. She's_very _capable...but even she will run out."

[=]

"Homura, what's wrong?" Madoka asked. "I didn't...I didn't see you at school-"

"I'm sorry." Homura said.

"What?"

"For being ungrateful."

"Homura, what are you talking abou-" She was cut off when Homura pulled her into a kiss.

[=]

"And we know what that entails." Mami said, quietly. "...I don't want Homura to have that happen...and I don't want Madoka caught in it."

Both Kyouko and Sayaka stared at her. "...What do you suggest we do?"

"...I have no idea." Mami said. "...But...we need to find something."


End file.
